Lenovo Channel Partner Forum: Will Global Ad Campaign Bolster VARs?

Lenovo is planning a one-two channel punch in May, 2011. The first involves the Accelerate 2011 Lenovo Channel Partner Forum (May 16-18, Las Vegas), hosted by Lenovo North American Channel Chief Chris Frey (pictured). The second involves Chief Marketing Officer David Roman unveiling a global marketing campaign, which could generate more SMB and corporate demand for Lenovo’s channel partners. Here’s the update.

No doubt, Lenovo has been very active across a range of channel communities. But now it’s time for Lenovo to more aggressively build its own channel community, according to David Rabin, director of retail and channel marketing at Lenovo. The first Lenovo Channel Partner Forum is expected to attract roughly 400 to 500 channel partners, said Rabin. Major hardware, software and distribution partners will also be on hand.

According to an email invite attendees will include Lenovo COO Rory Read and CMO Roman. The invite says key topics of discussion will include:

• A look at Lenovo’s new global advertising campaign
• Enhancement to Lenovo’s channel first strategy
• New tools and resources to enable channel success

Tricky But Smart Move

Of course, the IT channel includes more than 100 major conferences for VARs, MSPs and solutions providers (here’s the list…). As a result, organizing a successful partner summit can be an extremely tricky task.

Still, Lenovo Channel Partner Forum is a timely idea. During smaller third-party events, Lenovo can show off a few individual solutions. But a multi-day Lenovo-hosted conference should allow the company to connect the dots between its mobile, desktop, server and channel strategies. Plus, Lenovo should be able to more aggressively communicate the company’s software expertise — such as the Enhanced Experience offerings designed around Windows 7.

The partner forum may also allow VARs to get a better feel for Lenovo’s management team, which has evolved since the departures of Stephen DiFranco (to Hewlett-Packard) and Jay McBain (to Autotask).

Oh, and one final observation: Of the major PC and server suppliers, Dell now appears to be the only company that does not host a major annual partner summit — though rumors of such plans have circulated around Dell’s headquarters for about a year…

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